Birds, Insects, Reptiles and Mammals Too!

If you keep your eyes and ears opened while hiking the Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind Loop you’re likely to see and hear all sorts of wonderful sights and sounds. Birds that have spent the winter in the tropics are back home and full of song. Insects that have spent the last few months or longer in pupal or larval states are entering the next phase of their lives. Reptiles are taking advantage of locally plentiful food and can be seen, seemingly, everywhere you look. And, ripening fruit on the trees is attracting unexpected wildlife.

Wood thrush are migrants who spend the winter in Central America. Their flute-like calls are a welcomed sound each spring here in the temperate zone.

 

Wood thrush singing its song beneath the forest canopy.
Wood thrush singing its song beneath the forest canopy.

 

Red-shouldered hawks have young in the nest. Patient and intent, their hunting has become even more intense and urgent, they’re now hunting for more than just themselves.

 

This red-shouldered hawk has nothing on its mind other than securing food for the nest.
A study in intensity, this red-shouldered hawk has nothing on its mind other than securing food for the nest.

 

 

There are various trees listed as host plants (plants that butterflies lay eggs on and their caterpillars eat) for mourning cloak butterflies. I most often see the caterpillars on elm here at the Museum. The adults lay masses of eggs on the host and the caterpillars feed on the leaves together, en mass.

 

Mourning cloak.
Mourning cloak.

 

You can sometimes spot the caterpillars in the trees by the large amount of frass (caterpillar poop) on the ground beneath the host tree. Looking up you may see twigs and branches devoid of leaves above you, and of course, the black and red highlighted caterpillars munching away on the leaves that remain.

When the caterpillars have fed to the point where they’re ready to pupate, they crawl down out of the tree and search for a safe place to form a chrysalis. Masses of them can sometimes be seen heading out in all directions from the host tree.

 

On a very busy school field trip day, this caterpillar was lucky to make it across the path in Catch the Wind.
On a very busy school field trip day, this caterpillar was lucky to make it across the path in Catch the Wind.

 

As the days roll along, more and more species of odonata emerge from the water of the Wetlands, like the azure bluet below.

 

A male azure bluet. Note the bullfrog tadpole to the damselfly's left.
A male azure bluet. Note the bullfrog tadpole on the left.

 

The reason for the name should be obvious.
The reason for the name should be obvious.

 

Turtles and snakes are easy finds here at the Museum. Some turtles, though, like the eastern musk turtle below are not seen as often as the ubiquitous yellow-bellied sliders.

 

Musk turtle, or stinkpot, nibbles on a morsel of food just below the surface of the water. Can you see the two tadpoles to the turtle's right?
Musk turtle, or stinkpot (left), nibbles on a morsel of food just below the surface of the water. Can you see the two tadpoles to the right?

 

From the top of the boardwalk, between the sycamore leaves, a partially submerged, large water snake was waiting patiently for fish to swim nearby. Judging by the snake’s girth, this strategy has been working for the snake.

 

From above, atop the boardwalk, the snake appeared very wide around the middle.
From above, atop the boardwalk, the snake appeared very wide around the middle.

 

Here, the snakes wait for its prey to come near.
Here, the snake waits for its prey to come near.

 

Mulberries are beginning to ripen. The mulberry trees here at the Museum are sometimes full of birds devouring the dark, sweet berries. But, don’t be surprised to see a groundhog in a mulberry tree feasting away. Who doesn’t like mulberries?

 

Can you see the groundhog?
Can you see the groundhog?

 

Can you see it now?
Can you see it now?

 

 

What have you been seeing?

 

 

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